What’s the Matter With Kids Today?

Parents think their adult children are making loads of financial mistakes, but nearly half of their children don’t think their parents have made any, according to a study released today by Fidelity Investments.

The top three money mistakes that parents think their children have made are:

Racking up credit-card debt (42%).

Not saving early enough for retirement (38%).

Not building a large enough emergency fund (36%).

By contrast, the adult children idealize their parents’ financial knowledge, with 47% saying their parents haven’t made such errors, the study found.

The survey compared 152 parents with at least $100,000 in investible assets who were at least 55 years old to one of their adult children older than 30. The children qualified by having at least $10,000 saved in an individual retirement account, 401(k) or other investments. They were interviewed online last July and August. The survey had a three-percentage-point margin of error.

“What this underscores is adult children are not as knowledgeable as they need to be,” says Kathy Murphy, president of Fidelity Personal Investing. “They view their parents as the single most important role models in their lives. Their discussions about money management and retirement planning have to start earlier between parents and children.”

She suggests using “life stage” moments that involve money to initiate such conversations.

“When you’re young, it’s about saving,” Murphy says. “I remember when people took their passbooks to the bank on Saturdays. In high school, it’s about saving for college. Then there’s the conversation about benefits when you join a company.”